Category Archives: Cemetery

Tucker Cemetery

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Most of the tombstones in Tucker Cemetery are broken or completely missing. This one for Ashel Atherton dated 1884 is one of just a couple that still remains standing. Hidden in the sparsely populated woods in the Ogemaw Hills, the cemetery is left over from the lumbering days. It is northwest of Rose City off a sandy forest trail and forgotten by most people. It is kind of an eerie sight to come across to see this old cemetery so far from civilization if you are out riding the trails in an ORV.

Time to announce the winner of the Camp Michigan books. Thank you to everyone who commented. it was so nice to read all the kind and supportive comments. Congratulations to Elizabeth Dewar she is the winner, please email me at mike@huronphoto.com with your address and I will send out your books.

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The Spirit Houses

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Northwest of Brimley along the Lake Superior shoreline is Bay Mills. The area is home to the Bay Mills Indian tribe. Along the road is an old Indian Cemetery and according to the sign in the back it was established in 1841.

The graves are covered with wooden spirit houses. The wooden houses are built to protect the body as the soul passes to the spirit world. Many times relatives would leave food and tools for the deceased loved one to use as they travel to the spirit world.

The cemetery is not open to the public but it is next to the road. I took this pic from the fence. Sometimes I will see spirit houses in other cemeteries, especially in northern Michigan. Next time you are out exploring the mitten state and you see an old cemetery with wooden houses now you will know what they are if you didn’t already.

This Saturday ( Nov 23rd ) I will be at Handy Middle School in Bay City for their annual bazaar. I will be selling books, calendars, and T-Shirts. I hope you will stop by if you are in the neighborhood.

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The Old Church in Skandia

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Southwest of Marquette on US-41 near the intersection of M-94 is an old brick church that stands in Skandia Township. The Emanual Lutheran Church was built in front of the cemetery in 1904. The cemetery was created in 1892, for a burial plot for the stillborn son of Hjalmer Bahrman after the land was donated by Andrew Haglund.

Laid to rest in the cemetery is William Bakewell who was the only American crewmember of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance, which departed Buenos Aires on an expedition to cross Antarctica. After the ship became trapped in ice and sank he was stranded for months in the frozen wasteland with some of the crew. After being rescued he moved to Dukes Michigan in 1945 and died in 1969 and is buried in the cemetery behind the church. Bakewell Island, on the Antarctic coast, is named for him.

Lost In Michigan T-Shirts will be removed from Inventory soon. Now is a good time to order if you want one. I will be at the holiday bazaar at Handy Middle School in Bay City Saturday, November 23rd. It’s too hard for me to keep track of inventory while at the bazaar so if you want to order a t-shirt you can do it HERE

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Autumn Cemetery

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I was out exploring the back roads before my presentation in Lakeville and I came upon this old cemetery. The Dickenson Whitesell cemetery looked so peaceful covered in autumn leaves.

Thank you to everyone who came out to the Tamarak Library in Lakeview yesterday. It was a lot of fun meeting all of you. My next presentation will be in Omer on Monday, November 4th at the historic Masonic Lodge at 7 pm.

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The German Headstones

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Twenty-six solitary headstones are lined up In a section of Fort Custer National Cemetery. They mark the graves of German Prisoners of War that died in Michigan while being held in POW camps. Sixteen of the men were killed on October 31st, 1945 when their truck pulled in front of a train. The men were returning from working in a beet field in Blissfield Michigan, The violent crash killed the german men and Pfc Edward B. Loughrin who was assigned to guard the men. He was buried in his hometown of Cadillac Michigan.

The rest of the Germans buried at Fort Custer National Cemetery died of natural causes other than one who was killed when a wire snapped while on work detail. Michigan had approximately 30 POW camps during WWII. Most of the men were captured Germans from Africa. They worked the fields and lumbermills and most where model prisoners. For most, being a POW working in the fields was better than being shot at in the war. Many of the men emigrated back to the US after the war.

Lost In Michigan books are ON SALE this weekend and available HERE https://lostinmichigan.net/shop/

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The Island Cemetary

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Saint Ann’s Cemetery on Mackinac Island in behind the fort near Skull Cave. It was not always at this location. I was originally next to Ste Anne’s Catholic Church near downtown. One of the oldest headstones in the cemetery is for Mary Biddle, She was eight years old when she fell through the ice and died in 1833. In the 1850s the cemetery could no longer accept new burials because it could not expand into the city. The bodies were exhumed and moved to the current cemetery further into the island.

Years later after the cemetery was moved, headstones were found among the weeds at the old location. Workers found them before construction of the buildings that now stand near the church. It makes you wonder how thorough they were at moving the bodies of those laid to rest. One thing that is odd about the cemetery is the name. On the gate, it reads St Ann’s Cemetery but the church is Ste. Anne’s. Legend also has it the gate was build to accomadate a horse-drawn hearse but they forgot about the driver. That fueled the legend of the headless horseman or in this case hearseman.

It is a beautiful old cemetery and the carriage tours travel along the road next to it. And if you are wondering, To be laid to rest in the cemetery you either need to have been born on the island or been a resident or owned a business on the island for more than 15 years

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The Spirits of Quaker Cemetery

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concealed in the woods at the end of an unmarked two-track trail is the old Quaker Cemetery. It is in a desolate section a few miles south of Nashville. No, not that Nashville, known for country music, but Nashville Michigan.

Eli Lapham, a Quaker minister, settled the area in 1837. After a sawmill was constructed the area grew in population with people of the quaker faith. over time the trees were cut down. The swampy area was not good for farming so the Quakers had left leaving behind a small cemetery on a hill.

Sadly many of the headstones are broken. I am not sure if it is due to the ravages of time or vandals, probably a little bit of both. Some say the surrounding woods are haunted by the spirits whose graves have been forgotten. It has been said that you can see spirits among the trees watching visitors.

I did not see anyone or anything mysterious. It was sad to see the condition that some of the headstones are in. The old cemetery does seem to have been remembered by the local historical society. A new historical marker stands at the site and the grass was mowed. Maybe the spirits are a little more content and do not bother visitors as long as they behave themselves.

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The Hidden Ghost Town Cemetery

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The town of Hamlin was a sawmill town founded by Charles Mears that was destroyed in a tragic event. The town began in 1852 with Mears Building a wooden dam on the Big Sable River which is in the present-day Ludington State Park. Over the years Hamling grew to have a school, church, saloons and several houses. In 1888 the wooden dam broke and the force of the rushing water pushed the building of Hamlin off their foundations and downstream. You can see some of the foundations and a few artifacts on the path along the river.

Most people that visit the park are unaware of the cemetery that is hidden in the woods. It’s up on a hill not far from the parking lot for Hamlin Beach. The cemetery only has a few headstones and is surrounded by an old wooden fence.

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The Ghost Town of Onominese

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Rows of white wooden crosses stand in a simple cemetery near Lake Michigan. The people laid to rest under them is all that remains of Onominese. A small Indian village named after the Indian Chief Onominese. ( also spelled Onominee) The town was about five miles north of Leland, in the Leelanau Peninsula on Lake Michigan. The people that lived there mostly traveled to the town by canoe as there were no roads that led to the village.

Reverend Smith traveled through crude forest trails almost every Sunday from Northport to conduct church services. A small schoolhouse was built after the Civil War ended in 1865. Beside bringing religion and education to the native Americans the white man brought an epidemic of smallpox and diphtheria that killed off most of the small village’s population. It is the white crosses of those that died which stand in the filed near Lake Michigan to tell the story of the small Indian village that once was.

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A Soldiers Final Resting Place

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When thinking of Memorial Day many people can recall an image from a national cemetery with row and rows of headstones and American flags placed alongside them. I have visited many old rural cemeteries and see some individual tombstones with the Stars and Stripes proudly waving in the breeze. They may not be laid to rest with their brothers and sisters in a large elaborate cemetery, but that does not mean that the sacrifice they made was insignificant or forgotten. Thank you to the people who honor the veterans by placing flags next to the graves. I notice them and am grateful for their sacrifices.

I saw this headstone and flag on a hill in the Old Bayport Cemetery where many of the residents of the Ora Labora Colony are laid to rest.  you can read about that HERE

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